Canada repatriates stock fraud suspect to China

BEIJING, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese man wanted in connection with a major stock fraud case arrived back in China Thursday after being repatriated from Canada where he had lived for 12 years, the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) said in a statement Friday.

Zeng Hanlin, a businessman from south China's Guangdong Province, is alleged to have been involved in a major contract fraud from October 1997 to August 1998. He fled to Canada later, the statement said.

The ministry gave no further details on Zeng's case, but earlier news reports said Zeng, chairman of the Guangdong Flying Dragon Group, a company which was already bankrupt, had acquired 35 million yuan (5.2 million U.S. dollars) by using fake bank account and other documents to sign a stock transfer agreement with Chengdu Lianyi Industry and Stock Co., Ltd., based in the southwestern Sichuan Province.

In August 2000, based on an arrest warrant issued by Chinese prosecutors, Interpol issued a red notice, requesting member states to arrest Zeng for extradition.

The statement said Canada had repatriated several suspects to China in recent years, showing honest cooperation between the law enforcement organs of the two countries.

In January last year, Chinese man Cui Zili was repatriated from Canada, where he had lived for seven years, for allegedly being involved in a 20-million-yuan fraud in 2002.

Deng Xinzhi, who worked with Cui, was repatriated from Canada on Aug. 22, 2008. Deng was sentenced to life in prison in 2009.

The MPS statement said Chinese police would continue to strengthen international cooperation in tackling crime.